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Understanding Human Networks: HQ SACT Hosts Protection of

Civilians and Atrocity Prevention Plenary

ACT PAOPublished on 14 March 2014

On Wednesday 12 March, the NATO ACT

2014 Concept Development & Experimentation (CD&E) Working Group focussed on concepts for Atrocity Prevention and the

Protection of Civilians (PoC) / Responsibility to Protect (R2P).

The CD&E WG hosted US Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) of State Victoria Holt, Mr Alexander Beadle from the Norwegian

Research Institute and Mr Rob Ayasse from NATO Headquarters (HQ), International Staff (IS), Afghanistan Ops Team.

The Plenary resulted in response to the HQ Supreme Allied Command Transformation (SACT) annual call seeking opportunities

for synergy between NATO ACT Concept Development & Experimentation (CD&E), and work being conducted by Nations and

COEs, Norway and the USA sought to collaborate on promoting PoC/R2P and Atrocity Prevention.

Presentations included presentations by USA and Norway followed by a broader discussion led by NATO HQ's Rob Ayasse on

PoC/R2P to include harm mitigation mechanisms and training concerns. Specific breakouts session for the key contributingparties commenced following the plenary in a separate conference room.

Addressing the Nations, COE's and agencies, DAS Holt stated, "The part I think is rich and interesting, is the amazing ability of a

community like the CDE WG probably - without too much effort - to knock out some strategic thinking figure out conceptually

how a mission that is either a side or primary task is asked to do this, what kind of salient points would you have, how would you

think about standard procedures, what did you learn in the past, concluded DAS Holt. "You would be doing a service to the

world."

"The NATO CDE WG community has tools to assess, plan, to do it again in the field and bring everyone to the table," continued

DAS Holt. "Scenarios could be played out before everyone deploys then in the field - then you have the arguments before the

crises starts. Gaming out the scenario will help with the crosstalk."

Following the robust engagement between attendees and the Deputy Assistant Secretary, Mr Alexander Beadle on behalf of theNorwegian Defence Research Institute Establishment offered a concept to NATO in the form of a 25-page military and planning

assessment guide titled "Planning Concept for the Protection of Civilians". The conceptual document is intended for military staff

utilizing NATO's Comprehensive Operations Planning Directive (COPD) during the planning of military operations where

'protection of civilians' is an objective.

"This guide is the first scenario based planning guidance for the PoC and the only guidance that takes NATO planning phases as

starting point," said Beadle.

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Among the speakers, Mr Robert Ayasse, International Staff, Operations Directorate facilitated a dynamic engagement with

attendees on PoC, signifying that now is the time to think "deep thoughts".

"Training is the most important thing we can do to mitigate civilian casualties (CIVCAS)," said Mr Ayasse. "We must be best in

class in terms of policies and procedures but we must also ensure that knowledge is shared as widely as possible. We must seize

the opportunity to learn best practices and lessons learned, institutionalize and propagate accordingly."

"This topic is timely and promising," said Mr Don Morse, US Joint Staff, J7, referring to NATO's HQ SACT Strategic Foresight

analysis which details PoC/R2P as a potential implication on NATO's future operations and contingency planning.

"The plenary has identified several important links between expert actors within both political and military circles; this topic is

one to watch as it will certainly evolve in the months and years ahead."

Background: The CD&E WG conducts necessary technical validation of the 2014 CD&E proposals offering the Nations and

other NATO organisations a collaboration space comparing CD&E Programmes of Work (POW) and ACT CD&E activities.

More information on the CD&E WG can be found online athttp://www.act.nato.int/cde-wg

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